This Sunday’s Gospel, John 4:5-42, is a fantastic encounter with Jesus. Jesus’ conversation with “the woman at the well” is rich and powerful — and extremely long. I’m glad that the compilers of the lectionary didn’t chop it up (like last week when they hacked the end of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus). It needs to […]
The Lord’s Supper and the Coronavirus — Wisdom from St. Thomas Aquinas
I was supposed to preach Sunday. I was getting over a cold. Love of neighbor meant I needed to tell the pastor who invited me in case he wanted to cancel. He still wanted me to come. Still, I told the congregation I wouldn’t be shaking hands. They didn’t want to catch what I’d had […]
A Children’s Sermon on John 3:1-17
Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus is fascinating, but what is the best way to introduce it in a children’s sermon? My first inclination with a Gospel text is to tell the story. But this scene has very little narrative action: Nicodemus and Jesus just sit there and talk. A conversation can have its own flow and […]
Monday Meditation: RCL Year A, Lent 2, John 3:1-17
I wrote on this passage two years ago, when it came up as the Gospel for Trinity Sunday in Year B of the Revised Common Lectionary. I’m writing today without reference to that post — but you might want to check it out. John 3:1-17 The text, John 3:1-17, is the bulk of the story […]
A Children’s Sermon on Matthew 4:1-11
As with many passages, writing a children’s sermon on Matthew 4:1-11 is made challenging by the sheer amount of weighty detail, and the theological puzzles. Do I discuss all three temptations? Complicated. Do I try to explain the concept of temptation? Pretty vague. Do I discuss the paradox of God in the flesh experiencing temptation […]